Before Easter break

I have had busy weeks before Easter break. In one week I dedicated my time to design the test then, I had to prepare my students for the tests. The next week, I had to mark and grade them. The last week, I had to fill the format for the students’ grades.

 For me was a huge responsibility to design and making progress tests. The first thing that came into my mind was that I needed to design a test that can be answered in less than fifty minutes. Then, I listed the topics that I wanted to include in my test including the skills including grammar points, vocabulary items, reading comprehension, listening and speaking. After I designed the test I gave it to the coordinator. I was a little bit nervous because it was my first time I designed a test. The coordinator helped me a lot because she identified some questions that did not work for the test, also the told me about the importance of the instructions. The instructions needed to be easy for the students to understand. So, I wrote examples so that the students have no doubt about what they were expected to do. As a result, I made changes before the real and final test.

I prepared my students for the test. I asked them to do tasks which were similar with the ones in the test. I really tried to motivate them. In a couple of days later, the students took the test. After that, I marked and grade them and I was really happy that every one passed the exam.

I found a little bit difficult to fill out the format for students’ grades. Because everything has to be very detailed, some fellow teachers advised me to fill it by using a pencil so I if I had a mistake I could erase it. Otherwise if I use a pen I would have to do it over again because it is not allowed to use corrector in that format.

I had a busy week and I feel happy with the things I learned so far and I know that there are more incredible things to experience in my Social Service.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Action Plan

Statement of Goal(s) and Objectives:

The goals of the project are to promote the effective learning and preparation for Cambridge Examinations (KET, PET and FCE).   The objective is to allow the candidates to familiarize with the content and format of the Cambridge Examinations by practicing and using techniques.

 

IMPLEMENTATION			EVALUATION
What needs to be done?	By whom? And when?	What resources (human and material) are needed?		What evidence indicates progress?	How and when will that evidence be collected?
Organize the groups that are going to take the Cambridge ESOL examinations.	By  the coordinator and Social Servicer Sara Lopez. At the end of February and in the begging of March	The register		To have the list register completed	The evidence will be collected on March 8th
Give candidates a diagnostic test. (Placement test)	By Sara Lopez On March	The placement test, candidate answer sheets , pen, eraser		To have the results of the placement test and place candidates by level.	On March after having the placement test
Locate the classroom the days and the length of the lessons.	By the coordinator, school principal and Sara Lopez On March	Human resources		To have a document of agreement signed by the school principal	On March after having the document signed
Organize the contents of KET, PET and FCE	By the coordinator and Sara Lopez   On March	Select the most appropriate teaching materials that books, photocopiable worksheets (sets of exams) , CDs, CD-ROM, dictionaries, grammar books and the internet		To have everything organized	On March
Select the teaching materials	By Sara Lopez On March	Human resources and material		To have the teaching materials selected	On March after having the materials selected
KET tutorials	By Sara Lopez On April (once a week)  On Tuesdays from 9:00 am to 9:50 am	photocopiable worksheets (sets of exams) , CDs, CD-ROM dictionaries, grammar books and the internet		The participation of the candidates, candidates’ performance, candidates’ understanding on reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English.	On April during the lessons
PET tutorials	By Sara Lopez on April (once a week) On Wednesdays from 9:00 am to 9:50 am	photocopiable worksheets (sets of exams) , CDs, CD-ROM, dictionaries, grammar books and the internet		The participation of the candidates, candidates’ performance, candidates’ understanding on reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English.	On April during the lessons
FCE tutorials	By Sara Lopez On April (Once a week) On Thursdays from 9:00 am to 9:50 am	photocopiable worksheets (sets of exams) , CDs, CD-ROM dictionaries, grammar books and the internet		The participation of the candidates, candidates’ performance, candidates’ understanding on reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English.	On April during the lessons
Give students a Progress Test	By Sara Lopez On May	Progress test		Have the expected results	On May after having the progress test
KET tutorials	By Sara Lopez On May and June (once a week) On Tuesdays from 9:00 am to 9:50 am	photocopiable worksheets (sets of exams) , CDs, CD-ROM		The participation of the candidates, candidates’ performance, candidates’ understanding.	On May during the lessons
PET tutorials	By Sara Lopez On May and June (once a week)On Wednesdays from 9:00 am to 9:50 am	photocopiable worksheets (sets of exams) , CDs, CD-ROM dictionaries, grammar books and the internet		The participation of the candidates, candidates’ performance, candidates’ understanding.	On May during the lessons
FCE tutorials	By Sara Lopez  On May and June (Once a week) On Thursdays from 9:00 am to 9:50 am	photocopiable worksheets (sets of exams) , CDs, CD-ROM, dictionaries, grammar books and the internet		The participation of the candidates, candidates’ performance, candidates’ understanding.	On May during the lessons
Give students a online practice test that contains the same type of question and topics as the real exams	By Sara Lopez   On June	http://olpt.s3.amazonaws.com/online-practice-ket/index.html http://olpt.s3.amazonaws.com/online-practice-pet/index.html   http://cbpt.s3.amazonaws.com/cb-fce/index.html		Have the expected results	On June after having the exam and feedback
End of the tutorials

The Action Plan took me more than I expected because I really wanted to have a good-exam preparation, I needed to familiarize with the test and being able to answer my students’ concerns, doubts and worries.  It is my intention to have fun and find a variety of resources that will help my students in their exam preparation. I know that they are important exams but it does not mean that it has to be boring. It is important to build a variety and fun into an exam course as it is to drive students towards the goal of passing their exam (Burges and Head 2005).

It vital to train the students in the best way and the best conditions because students need to be familiar with the test items they will have to face. I will also discuss general exam skills and do practice tests.



 

February’s report (my first week of working on the Unidad Receptora)

In my fist week of working at the unidad receptora was a process of many changes both professionally and personally.

Being able to find a Unidad Receptora was not an easy thing for me. Since I began doing the BA in ELT  I had planned to do my social service at the UV Language Center because, I have studied there since 2004. I know most of the teachers, I also know how the institution works and I thought that it was the perfect place to gain more experience as a teacher. When, I went to talk to the coordinator he told me that there was no space for me to be in front of a group. The coordinator had other plans for me. He wanted me to be like his secretary the majority of the time and work as a facilitator of English for health and tourism using EMINUS. So my teaching will be only on a virtual environment. So I had to deny his request. The truth was, that I really thought that it was going to be a great experience working as a facilitator, but I was not going to feel fine working as a secretary most of my time because I really need the practice to be in front of the classroom.

Then, my next step was going to the UV School of Nursing, but also there were no space for me, it was impossible to carry out the conversation club and the tutoring.  At that moment, my time was running I was desperate to find a school. So, I went to a high school near my house.  I talked with the director and he immediately said yes without thinking too much.

On my first day, I had many emotions, I felt nervous, scared, happy and thrilling. I had a warm welcome from the fellow teachers and the school staff.

Meeting my class was an important moment for me.  I believe that it is really difficult to teach adolescents because they are in a moment of their lives which there are having thorough physical and psychological changes. The  things I observed in the students was that they have a great capacity  for learning, they are in some days lazy due to the all activities they have during the day but  they have an enormous potential for learning. So, for me this experience it is a challenge that it is worth it.

 Personally, I go through many changes, now I need to balance my time in the school, with the activities, the time I spend my family and my chores.

I think this experience was a little difficult at the begging but I hope to have a better time management through the days.  I really enjoy being in front of the classroom. My goal this week is to learn the name of my students

Needs analysis

Being able to collect information about learners’ needs wasn’t an easy task to do because needs analysis is a detailed procedure that took me a little more time I had expected. In order to carry out the needs analysis I first, identified the purpose of it. I my case my purpose was to find which students from different groups of the high school were the most needed in training for a particular language course, I also find interesting to collect information about the problems the students are currently facing or if the course book addresses the needs of the learners.  Secondly, I identify the target population in this case the potential language learners, the school staff including teachers and administrators, parents and I also include the community members.

This needs analysis was conducted in a private institution by other language teachers, the coordinator and me. The survey instruments for the needs analysis were questionnaires and interviews using cards. The fist pack of cards was of “general lesson content” the second pack was of “classroom activities”. I also complemented it by using pictures that allowed the students discuss the reasons why they will need English in the future. My first fear about collecting the needs analysis was about how serious the learners were going to take the questionnaires and interviews using the set of cards, how much true information I was going to collect because sometimes students seems not know what they want or need, for that reason, I carefully introduced the needs analysis and I tried to gain confidence of the students to get true and useful information.

After having information taken from different students I was able to categorize the situations in where English is often used, the, the skills that they need to improve and the things they found enjoyable, easy, boring and difficult when they are studying English.

Until this moment, I have already followed the steps one to five. I feed glad about all the information I had obtained, and I feel thankful with my receiving institution, the fellow teachers and the coordinator and the students that were part of the needs analysis I know that there is still a long way to finish. The next step is to analyze the data with the following table.

	Curriculum		Instruction		Organization
	Strength	Need	Strength	Need	Strength	Need
Student	The students  are adapted with the course	To have training course in order to get a Cambridge ESOL examinations.	the students are please with the course	Students will find useful to have a training course that allow them practice before the examinations and discuss for general exam skills	The organization of the course is satisfactory because allows students to practice the different skills	Students need a certification that allows them to develop communication skills, to have an English recognition that will help them with their professional life
Staff	Teachers apply the curriculum effectively	Teachers will need to help students to answer their doubts, worries and concerns	The staff is often supervised by the coordinator	Help students to have a good exam preparation	Most of the teachers are well organized	Good exam-preparation teachers is need to familiarize  with the tests  the students are going to take
Parents/ Community		Parents are not fully involved	Until now parents are please with the school teachers	Parents are not involved	Parents are involved in the school events and celebrations	The acceptance of the parents will be needed
Facilities/ Materials	There are a number of school facilities that supports the English language course	An interactive whiteboard is need	the classroom is well equipped and also the technology is available for them	Both teacher and students need to ask with anticipation if they want for example the projector	The students can access to computer-based technologies and programs, CD-ROMs, projector, audio and video	Some facilities required a timetable